Thursday, November 30, 2006

Florida Knows How to Fuck Up Elections

Aha, I bet you thought that this diary was going to be about the FL-13 undervote fiasco or maybe the 2000 Presidential election, um, er selection of the Chimp in Chief. Well, you might be right.

This time, Florida is aiming to fuck up the 2008 Presidential election. How can they aim to do that so soon, you ask? Well, actually Florida is aiming to fuck up the 2008 Presidential Primary elections, which really aren't that far away.

So, how is Florida going to do this, you ask? Is it going to be the electronic equivalent of the infamous butterfly ballots as is going on in FL-13 now (maybe)? The electronic version of the hanging chad, which is going on now in FL-13 (maybe)?

Well, if you really want to know...


Florida's Goper dominated state legislature is making serious noises about moving up Florida's Presidential Primary from early March to well, we don't exactly know. But that is not stopping our state legislative leaders from making loud clucking sounds about it.

The Times political editor Adam Smith (shouldn't he be the economics editor or something?) also reports today
That (the) move has bipartisan support in Tallahassee, though the national parties bar most states from holding primaries before the first week of February. Florida could lose some delegates at their national convention if they buck the national parties, but the state still could be the first huge primary prize on the calendar - delivering more delegates than Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina combined.


So, now they are not only screwing up the Presidential Primary calendar, they are potentially screwing up the state's major parties delegate counts at the National Conventions.

More from the St. Petersburg Times
"Sen. Pruitt (incoming President of the Florida Senate) understands this is a priority of (incoming) Speaker (Mario) Rubio," spokeswoman Kathy Mears said of an early primary. "He is very receptive to the idea and wants to be of assistance, and he believes this would be a good change for Florida."

The Times also reports today
Not only are state legislative leaders working on moving Florida's primary to be one of the earliest in the country, but the state GOP is planning a straw vote convention for October 2007.


Yup, a straw poll in October of 2007. Now it's really geting closer.
Now straw polls can be a lot of fun for the state convention delegates. The Florida Democratic Party wanted to have one at their convention in December 2003, but were bribed / scared off the idea by the DNC. Why would the DNC do that, you ask?
Well, the Presidential pretenders, um, er contenders didn't want to have to expend the resources, both in money and staffers to organize the convention delegates for what is really a meaningless beauty contest. Particulary so close to Iowa and New Hampshire.

But the straw poll idea also has support from some other notables

Democrats held one ,,,before the 1992 race. Bill Clinton, ... credited the Florida contest with playing a crucial role in his winning the nomination.


So, maybe, just maybe, Florida is not going to fuck up the 2008 Presidential election after all. Stay tuned.

6 comments:

gatordem said...

So, what do y'all think? Should we move up our primary in Florida?

Should we do it even if it costs us some delegates to the Democratic National Converntion?

I'm curious how y'all think about it.

gatordem said...

Hello

Is anybody home out there?

gatordem said...

FL-Kossacks just started. Welcome aboard.

Yeah, it would be good for Florida and good for the country to move our pick up to the front row!

Sarasota Lib said...

OK...I haven't been involved in FL politics that long. What is a straw vote convention? I can see the advantage of moving the FL primary up-Fl would get a lot of national attention and candidates would be "wining and dining" us for our votes (assuming those crappy voting machines are history and our votes actually count!) Can you explain why we could lose delegates to the DNC if the primary is moved up? Sorry for being politically ignorant.

gatordem said...

Sarasot Lib

No need to apologize. This stuff get complicated.

Basicly, the DNC sets the rules for when state parties may hold their delegate selection events (first round caucuses or primary election). Short and swweet, the DNC has set the Fist Tuesday in February as "Opening Day" if you will. However , they have made allowances for "historical firsts" (New Hampshire and Iowa) to open early. This uear they have even jiggered that around so that there will be a caucus in Nevada and a primary in South Carolina before opening day.

In the rules the DNC sets, they provide a penalty (loss of delegates is one)for unapproved states to hold their delegate selection events before Opening Day.

Florida can probably avoid this penalty by not moving up to before the first Tuesday in Feb.

Have I confused you further?

Sarasota Lib said...

Thanks, gatordem. I need to educate myself more on this process. Any ideas where I can read up on this?